


Planeswalkers, Emperors, and Common Folks

by speccygeekgrrl



Series: lovers from the moon [13]
Category: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Genre: (hint: it's everyone in the bar), Max goes to a Magic tournament, Max is the best at being nice to people, Multi, but first he meets his friends for drinks, guess who wants to drink with the emperor, that's why everyone wants to be nice to Max
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 09:44:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13187469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speccygeekgrrl/pseuds/speccygeekgrrl
Summary: Max goes off to indulge his nerdy hobbies with his nerdy friends. They might still share this interest from when they were younger, but they've shared twenty years of friendship on top of that, too. Max doesn't expect how many people are going to recognize him and then offer to buy him a drink, though. He probably shouldn't have all these drinks. Good thing he has friends to help him drink them.





	Planeswalkers, Emperors, and Common Folks

**Author's Note:**

> Sylabub wanted to see Max's side of the story when I wrote about Kinga having a nightmare, so here's that!

“Take care of her for me,” Max told Jonah. He was actually nervous to leave Kinga, but Jonah just gave him a reassuring smile.

“Of course I will.”

“And you take care of him for me,” he told Kinga, and the smirk she gave him in response made him even more nervous to leave her. Poor Jonah had no idea what he was in for.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep him thoroughly occupied.” Max had zero doubt in his mind that this was true.

“I love you both. Don’t burn down the country while I’m gone.” He studied them both, and then the elevator dinged behind him and the doors slid open.

“I make no promises,” Kinga said, and Jonah covered her mouth with one hand, laughing.

“Love you too. I’ll keep her in line,” he promised, and then his eyes widened and he yelped, letting go of her. She grinned at Max.

“I’m sure you will,” Max said dryly, and got in the elevator. He sighed when the doors slid shut. This was the first time he was leaving his spouses... well, since they started dating, wasn’t it? At least, since they’d come back to Earth. Add to that Kinga’s emotional roller coaster of hormones, Jonah’s vague disbelief of his own entire life, and the slight but persistent superstition that Kinga and Max had against the entire month of January, and Max was more than his baseline amount of worried as he headed to catch the train to Philly. He met Terry in the lobby and looked up at the Bonehead with a smile. “Ready to see how nerds live it up?”

“I guess I better be,” Terry said. Max had encouraged him to dress casually for the weekend, but he seemed very attached to the black hoodie bearing the Moon 13 logo he’d been wearing when they came to Earth. His black and white face markings made people think he was some hardcore tattooed gang member and not a half-alien half-human hybrid. Either way, no one tried to fuck with him.

“Ready to leave Synthia?” Max asked, a little more gently, and Terry looked panicked for a moment before he nodded. “We’ll be back before you know it. She’s spending the weekend at a spa, right?”

“Yeah, that’s what she said. I think she hit it off with Root, they’ve been hanging out.”

“Oh really? I hope they have fun.” They caught a cab at the curb to Penn Station, then hopped a train to Philadelphia. They were in Philly by eight, checked into their hotel suite by eight-thirty, and Max was giving himself a nervous stare in the mirror at eight-fifty-five.

“Why are you nervous? Aren’t we meeting your friends?” Terry asked.

“Yeah, they’re my friends, but I haven’t seen them since I went up to the Moon,” Max said. “It’s... a lot of stuff has happened to all of us since then. Tony started a company and beat cancer, Jake got married and had three kids, and then me—”

“I think they’re still your friends regardless of what happened,” Terry said. “Or... I’m misunderstanding the nature of friends. Which is very possible.”

“No, you’re right.” Max rubbed his hands through his hair and sighed. “Okay, yeah, this will be fine. Just like old times. Nothing to worry about.”

“You worry anyways,” Terry pointed out, and Max laughed.

“Yeah. I do.” He fussed with the collar of his shirt for a second and then let his hands fall. “All right. Ready?”

“I’m ready if you are, boss.” Max nodded and lead their way down to the hotel bar, easily spotting Tony and Jake as soon as they walked in. Tony was forty pounds lighter and one hundred percent more bald than he’d been the last time Max saw him, but his thousand-watt smile hadn’t dimmed a bit when he caught sight of his friend. He nudged Jake, who turned around and raised a hand in welcome. Jake looked like he’d stolen those forty pounds Tony lost and his dark hair had gone grey at the temples, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in about a week. Max wondered if that was a premonition of how he’d be when the baby arrived... but the baby was still a secret yet, and Kinga would murder him if he was the one who leaked it.

“Do we have to call you Your Majesty now?” Tony asked as Max came up to them. “Or do we get a pass since we’ve known you since you were a lowly line cook?”

“I guess I could skip having you beheaded for over-familiarity,” Max said, pulling Tony into a hug. “Be a shame for you to cheat death only to have your wiseass mouth be what gets you killed.”

“Jeez, man, you look great,” Jake said, clapping Max on the back before finding himself hugged as well. “Whatever you’re doing, it’s working for you.”

“Overthrowing a fascist regime is surprisingly restorative for the complexion,” Max said. “Not to mention being in love.”

“Marriage clearly suits you,” Jake said. He turned his attention to Terry, offering one hand. “Hi. I’m Jake Johnson.”

“Guys, this is Terry Osseo,” Max said. “He’s... my bodyguard.” 

“We’ll ignore that hesitation because we both know better than to ask questions,” Tony said, shaking Terry’s hand once Jake released it. “I’m Tony Griseldi.”

“Nice to meet you,” Terry said, looking a little surprised at their friendliness.

“Do you drink?” Jake asked. “Cause we have a traditional start to our nights out...”

“Oh, are you really going to make me—?” Max sighed.

“Klingon Disruptors!” Tony cheered. 

“You guys know what mezcal does to me...”

“That’s why we do them,” Jake said with a shit-eating grin. “C’mon, just one itty bitty little shot. You’ll be fine.”

“What’s a Klingon Disruptor?” Terry asked blankly.

“You’ll see in a second,” Tony said, and went to order a round of shots. 

“It’s a lethal combination of whiskey, tequila, and cinnamon schnapps,” Max said, “and these assholes have made me drink one every time we’ve gone out together since Jake turned twenty-one.”

“What Max neglects to mention is that he’s the one who suggested them for my twenty-first birthday,” Jake said. “So he brought this upon his own head.”

“I didn’t think you’d take to it like this,” Max groaned. “But after Tony gave you that Klingon phrasebook, my doom was sealed.”

“Ah, quit yer bitchin’,” Jake laughed. “It’s like a third of an ounce of tequila, don’t be a baby. You can get back to your Johnnie Walker right after, we won’t bully you into doing more than one.”

“Lying straight to my face,” Max said. “So brazen.”

“When did you get so suspicious?”

“Uh, when in your life have you ever stopped at making me take one shot?” Jake opened his mouth, one finger raised, and then closed it and let his hand drop. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

“Here we go,” Tony said, bearing a tray back to their table and setting it down with a flourish. “Warriors, arm yourselves!” Each of the men picked up a shot, and the three friends clinked them together and chorused, “ _'IwlIj jachjaj_!” before tossing them back. Terry looked puzzled and sniffed his curiously before he shrugged and drank it, and his black nose wrinkled.

“What the hell was that?” he asked.

“What, you’ve never heard a Klingon toast before?” Tony asked. “Max, where did you find this guy?”

“We grew him in a vat,” Max said, completely deadpan. Tony and Jake shared an uneasy look, and Max laughed. “Jeez, calm down. _I_ was grown in a vat. It’s a perfectly legitimate mad science gestation method.”

“Christ, you’re weird,” Jake said. “You’re not serious, are you?”

“I one hundred percent am,” Max said. “I might not have come out and said it that explicitly, but come on, you guys _never_ picked up on my clone jokes? I’ve been making them for literally the entire length of our friendship.”

“I do remember you talking shit about Dolly the sheep,” Tony said thoughtfully. “I didn’t think it was that personal, though.”

“Absolutely clueless,” Max said fondly. 

“In our defense, you didn’t look as much like your dad when you were twenty,” Jake said. “But you’re playing it up these days. Not that it’s a bad look for you.” 

“No, man, you look awesome,” Tony said. “I think you’re the only one of us who’s improved with age.”

“You don’t have to suck up to me, I already like you,” Max said. 

“We’re not sucking up,” Jake said. “You were a very awkward duckling twenty years ago, but you have gravitas now.”

“Yeah, being a world leader will impart a little bit of that.”

“Um... excuse me...” At the sound of a soft, airy voice, all four of them turned to look at a tall, skinny kid with short, spiky blue hair that barely looked old enough to be in the bar. “You’re... you’re Emperor Max, right?”

“Last time I checked,” Max said with a smile.

“Could I buy you a drink? Just, I was a week away from being homeless two months ago and you and your... um, wife? family? ...kind of saved my life.”

“You don’t have to,” Max said, and the kid squared their shoulders.

“No, I want to. Please. It’d mean a lot to me.”

“Then by all means, of course you can.” He glanced back at his friends, and Tony gave him a little wave, so Max walked with the kid up to the bar. “What’s your name?”

“Kay. Uh, Kay D’Angelo.” 

“Can I ask your pronouns?” Kay’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, um, they/them. Please. Thanks. Wow, you actually... wow.” Kay looked like they wanted to cry, and Max offered them an encouraging smile.

“I just didn’t want to use the wrong ones,” he said. “Are you in town for the Magic tournament?”

“No, I’m a Philly resident. Uh, my friend works at the bar, she snapped that you were here and I just wanted to come say thanks.” The bartender came over, shaking her head.

“Oh my god, Kay, I didn’t mean you should _show up_ ,” she said. 

“Then you should have specified that,” Kay said. “But I’m buying him a drink. Whatever he wants.”

“What do you have on tap?” Max asked, and the bartender slid a drink list across the bar to him. “Any recommendations?”

“The Woodchuck tastes like apple pie,” she said. “And the Magic Hat is a personal favorite.”

“Oh, I am a sucker for apple pie,” Max said. “Let’s try the Woodchuck.”

“Two of them,” Kay said, and the bartender nodded and went off to pull the drinks. Kay stared at Max and Max arched a brow at them. “I’m sorry, I’m just kind of starstruck. You’re like, the most down to earth and accessible person in all your interviews, but I don’t know what to say to you.”

“I’m like that all the time,” Max said. “Tell me about yourself? What do you do in Philly?”

“I’m a student,” Kay said. “At Drexel. I study chemical engineering. I’m on scholarship but it takes up all my time and I can’t hold a job while my studies are on, and my FAFSA grant ran out in the spring semester. I couldn’t scrape together rent in November, even with going around to the hospitals donating plasma. And then my new ID card showed up the day before Thanksgiving.”

“We were hoping most people would get theirs before Thanksgiving,” Max said. “I’m glad yours did.”

“Yeah, me too. How’d you guys manage that, anyways? You must have been planning this for _months_ before the fateful day.”

“I’m sorry, my wife would literally murder me if I let that slip,” Max said with a laugh, and Kay cracked a smile. 

“I wouldn’t want to piss her off, either. She seems pretty awesome though.”

“She is awesome. Jonah’s awesome too. I’m very lucky.”

“It’s so cool that you guys are poly,” Kay said. “I never thought that would ever be legal. Or that being trans would ever be anything but vilified, but now gender-neutral is even an option on legal documents... You changed a lot of lives in the past couple months.”

“I like to think we’ve changed everyone on Earth in the past couple months,” Max said, accepting his drink with a smile when the bartender returned. “At least by giving them hope that the planet isn’t quite as doomed.”

“Here’s to not being doomed,” Kay said, holding up their drink, and Max clinked glasses. His eyes widened when he tasted it.

“Jeez, this is _amazing_. Thanks for the drink.”

“No problem. Thanks for decriminalizing my existence,” Kay said dryly. “I should let you get back to your friends, I didn’t want to take up a lot of your time. It was nice of you to talk to me for this long. I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation with anyone this important before.”

“If you talk to people who are important to you, that’s important enough,” Max said, and he offered Kay one hand. “It was nice meeting you, Kay. Good luck finishing your degree.” Kay’s hand was very cold in Max’s, and Max could hear the kid chattering to their bartender friend before he’d taken two steps back toward his friends. 

“Look at you,” Tony said, grinning. “Can’t think of anyone nicer to become famous.”

“Not just famous, also powerful,” Jake pointed out. “Be honest with us, how much power do you actually have?”

“What, can’t you see my socialist fingerprints all over the new government?” Max asked with a laugh. “Kinga’s by far the most visible of the three of us, but we work together on most of what goes on.”

“Whose part of the plan was it to ice the cheeto on live video?” Jake asked. “That definitely wasn’t you.”

“No, that was all her,” Max admitted. “But it was a mutual decision that he had to die. She just went with the boldest possible way to do it.”

“Sounds like her style,” Tony said. “Gotta say I’m a fan of her work. Even the show was pretty good.”

“Oh god, you watched it?”

“Of course we watched it,” Jake said. “As if we wouldn’t? Get real. We were both a bit confused by the whole pining-over-her thing when we knew you’d been together for years, but...”

“Happy relationships don’t make good TV,” Max said. “And honestly? It’s not like I didn’t have practice pining over her. I was just never that blatant and desperate about it.”

“I don’t know, man, you were pretty desperate back in the day,” Tony said. “Remember when you abandoned us for eight months because of her?”

“I didn’t—”

“You totally did,” Jake said. “It’s okay. We get it. I pulled the same sort of stunt when I met Cath. We just moved toward marriage and kids a lot faster than you and Kinga did.”

“Which I’m glad for,” Max said, “Because if we’d moved toward it any faster than we did, we wouldn’t have gotten Jonah out of the deal, and we’re both crazy in love with him.”

“Yeah, about that,” Tony said. “How long have we been friends and neither of us had a clue that you were into guys?”

“I wasn’t into guys before I met Jonah,” Max said thoughtfully, looking down into his glass. “I wasn’t into anyone but Kinga before I met Jonah. And then Kinga kind of, uh, dropped him into my lap.”

“I figured she was more jealous than that,” Jake said. “She was always very possessive of your attention.”

“You don’t need details,” Max said primly. “Suffice to say that the three of us go very well together.”

“Oh, you must have learned discretion on the moon,” Jake said with a laugh. “Because you had a tendency to overshare before you went up there.”

“And you egged him on,” Tony said, poking Jake’s shoulder with one finger. “Because you love sordid gossip.”

“No more sordid gossip,” Max said. “I have a reputation to uphold now.”

“Uh, boss,” Terry said, tapping Max’s shoulder. “I think you, um, might want to look around...” Max looked from his friends up at his bodyguard and then out to the several people who were unsubtlely milling around. “I think a lot of these people want to talk to you.”

“Emperor Popularity,” Tony laughed. “Don’t forget about us little people while you’re out pressing the flesh with your devoted public.”

“Oh, jeez,” Max said. “Uh, I’ll be right back. Sorry about this. I can’t just ignore people, that’s rude.”

“Neither of us expected you to ignore people,” Jake said. “C’mon, man, we know what you’re like. Don’t worry about it. The rest of the country is still getting used to you, we’ve had a couple decades already. Get it out of your system tonight, you have to be on your game tomorrow.” 

“Thanks, guys.” Terry went to hover behind Max while he talked to people, and Tony shot Jake a dryly amused look.

“Who ever thought that our sweet little nerdy Max would become the most powerful man in the country?”

“Who are you calling nerdy, nerd?”

“You and me and him, mostly. His husband looks like a nerd too.” 

“But not his wife?”

“She’s a legit mad scientist, that goes way past nerd level.”

“Yeah, that’s true. She’s also kinda terrifying.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been terrified of her since you met her.”

“She did threaten to kill us both that night.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that...” Tony shrugged. “Not my most recent brush with mortality.”

“Fair point.” Jake patted Tony’s shoulder. “I’m gonna go get a pitcher, any requests?”

“Something local,” Tony said. “Or seasonal. Or both.”

“Gotcha.” Jake came up to the bar and the bartender smiled at him.

“You’re here with Max, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Like ten people have offered to pay his tab tonight,” she told him. “Get whatever you want.”

“No kidding? Well... neat.”

“Does he want another one like he had before?”

“Can you give me a pitcher of whatever that was?”

“Sure thing,” she chirped, and went off to pull it. Jake leaned against the bar and watched Max gesture while he talked to a couple of people who burst into laughter at whatever he said. Never in a million years would Jake have predicted where life took his friend, but Max seemed to be acclimating quite well to being a public figure, just as affable and kind-hearted as he’d ever been. It really couldn’t have happened to a nicer person. Max deserved every good thing that happened to him, and it seemed like his life since November was a sharp incline into good and better things.

Jake and Tony split the pitcher of cider while they waited for Max to come back, and when he did return it was to find himself subjected to bear hugs from both of his friends. “What’s that for?” he asked, laughing, and Tony’s brows arched.

“Who needs an excuse? You’ve always given the best hugs.”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“Less questions, more drinks,” Jake said. “Time for another round of shots?”

“No,” Max said, but it was too late, Jake was already heading toward the bar. He sighed and turned to say something to Terry when his hand flew to his pocket and pulled out his buzzing phone. One glance at the screen, and he answered immediately. “What’s wrong? Kinga, are you okay?”

“I’m... I’m fine. I had a dream you were about to be killed.” She’d been crying, he could hear it in her voice. He tucked his phone between ear and shoulder and turned away from the table to comfort her. 

“Everything’s fine here,” he said. “Well, except for the number of shots Jake is trying to get me to do. He seems to think we’re still in our twenties.” He could hear a shaky sniffle and laugh, and he smiled slightly. “Is Jonah taking good care of you?” 

“Yeah, he is.”

“Can I talk to him?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Hey,” Jonah said, clearly on speakerphone now.

“I’m sorry, I should have warned you,” Max said, smiling a little wider at the sound of his husband’s voice. “I forgot that you haven’t dealt with her nightmares before.”

“I’ve never even woken up when she’s had one, you always handle them before I know anything’s wrong.”

“That’s because I wake her up as soon as she starts to get restless.”

“When do you sleep?” Jonah sounded incredulous.

“At night,” Max said, trying not to laugh. “Just not as deeply as you do. And she’s usually wrapped around me so I can tell as soon as her breathing changes. But I’ve had years to hone my nightmare detection skills. You’re an amateur yet.”

“I’ll get better at it,” Jonah said. “Hopefully quickly.”

“You should be fine for the rest of the night, it’s really rare for her to have more than one a night.”

“These are extenuating circumstances,” Kinga said, and Max’s smile turned wistful. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too, but I swear no one’s going to try to kill me, unless it’s through alcohol poisoning. People keep insisting on buying me drinks, it’s really weird.” Nice weird, though. The kind of weird he could probably get used to.

“Don’t drink too much,” Jonah said. “You don’t want a hangover making you slow during the tournament tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry, I know my limits,” Max said. “I’ll be all right. I promise.”

“Look at how domesticated he is,” Tony said, and Max turned around to find that Jake had come back with a tray of shots and Terry was sniffing one doubtfully. “Who knew he’d be so thoroughly tamed by marriage?”

“Shut the fuck up, Tony,” Max said, flipping him the bird with a laugh. “I’ve been this domesticated for years, you dorks just didn’t see it happening.”

“Oooh,” Jake said, picking up a shot. “Tell him, Max. Stand up for us married ones.”

“I’m going to go tell my friends off now,” Max said into the phone. “I love you both. Sleep well.”

“Love you too,” Jonah said.

“Give ‘em hell, honey,” Kinga said. “Love you. Good night.” Max was laughing when he slid his phone back into his pocket, and Tony shook his head and tsked at him.

“Such a responsible husband,” he teased. “On his best behavior and everything.”

“Please, like you’ve ever seen my best behavior,” Max said, rolling his eyes. “Not when I’m hanging out with you miscreants, anyways.”

“ _Miscreants_ ,” Jake repeated incredulously. “Stop insulting us and take your damn shot, Your Majesty.”

“What is it?” Max asked, and Jake just smirked and held up his shot to be clinked. “It better not be tequila...”

“Trust me,” Jake chirped. “No more disruptors. This one’s for you.” Max shrugged and they all took the shot, and then Max’s brows arched.

“What was that? It was good.”

“Johnnie Walker and honey wine,” Jake said. 

“Good call.”

“Another?”

“It’s after midnight,” Terry pointed out, and Tony rolled his eyes.

“So? We’re grown men.”

“The event starts at nine,” Max said. “And I would like to get something approximating a normal amount of sleep before I go into a very noisy and crowded room for an entire day.”

“Domesticated,” Tony said mournfully. “Don’t be so middle-aged, Max.”

“I’m kind of enjoying being middle-aged, actually. I didn’t know how interesting my life would get after I turned forty.” The day he turned forty, more precisely, but that whole story was definitely more information than his friends needed to have, even if it did lead directly to where he was now. “If it makes you feel any better, we can come out again tomorrow night...”

“I thought that was a given,” Jake said. 

“He needs to be in one piece when we get back to New York City or I’ll be in trouble,” Terry said. “If you could not get him obliterated I’d be obliged.”

“I make no guarantees,” Tony said. “But you’re breaking Jake’s heart if we don’t get trashed at least once. This is his only chance to live it up when he has to be an upstanding father when he’s at home.”

“It’s true,” Jake said. “Every other night it’s bedtime stories and endless rounds of ‘can I have a drink’ and ‘I need to go to the bathroom,’ I hardly ever get to break out of dad mode, especially since we brought the baby home last month. I wouldn’t be here unless Cath’s mom came to visit for the weekend.”

“What’s more important, getting wasted or placing at the tournament?” Max asked.

“Getting wasted, definitely,” Jake said promptly, and Max sighed.

“One more shot tonight and then I’m calling it quits,” he said, and Jake cheered and went to fetch another round. Max stifled a yawn into his hand and Tony smirked at him. “Don’t look at me like that. Shouldn’t you be taking better care of yourself now that you’re not dying any more?”

“I’m still dying, just more slowly,” Tony said. “As are we all. So we might as well enjoy it while we’re here.”

“Here alive or here Philadelphia?”

“Why not both?”

“That’s fair,” Max said. “I am enjoying it. I’ve missed you both.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to your wedding.”

“It was pretty last-minute, I’m sorry I couldn’t have given you more forewarning. But you both had good reasons you couldn’t be there.”

“Married life does seem to suit you,” Tony said, looking Max up and down for a moment. “You look happier.”

“I don’t think happy is the word,” Max said. “It’s like I’m living in a dream. It’s almost too good to be true. But it is true.”

“What’s true?” Jake asked, coming back with more shots. 

“My life.”

“Hey, you deserve it. You spread goodness around when it happens to you.”

“I do what I can,” Max said. “And what I can do is a lot these days.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Tony said, and they all grabbed a shot.

“Long live the Forrester empire!” Jake said, and Max wasn’t sure if he was fucking around or what but a few people within earshot lifted their glasses too, and that was... pretty cool, honestly. That people would unironically toast them like that. Kinga would get the biggest kick out of hearing that.

“Don’t disqualify yourselves,” Max said, clapping Tony and Jake’s shoulders. “See you in the morning.”

“Don’t you worry about us,” Jake said.

“Telling him not to worry is useless,” Tony pointed out with a laugh, and Max and Terry left the bar with Max smiling widely.

“They seem cool,” Terry said as they headed back up to their suite. “Very friendly.”

“They’re great people.” Max yawned again and shook his head as he unlocked the door. “Jeez, around when we met, we’d just be starting our night at this time. Get out of work, grab some snacks and Mountain Dew, then play Magic all night long.”

“Do you think you could teach me how to play?”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely! I should call them up here, if we pulled an all nighter we could get you tournament ready overnight.”

“Really?”

“Nah, you’d get crushed. But Tony’s always wanted to do a training montage.” Max giggled, and Terry had to smile.

“I think that last shot might have been too much for you.”

“Shhh. We can’t all have your Bonehead metabolism, you know.”

“Someone’s got to look out for you fragile humans,” Terry said. “You need anything before you call it a night?”

“Nope, I’m good,” Max said. “Good night, Terry.”

“Night, boss.” The door between their rooms was barely closed before Max started changing out of his clothes, absolutely exhausted and not certain why. How many people had he talked to tonight, besides Terry and Tony and Jake? Had it been twelve or thirteen? More to the point, how many drinks had he had? Definitely not twelve or thirteen. Terry had been right about that last one, though. Maybe he’d just blame his exhaustion on inebriation and not on introversion. He hoped that was what it was, anyways. His introversion was going to be tested a lot more strongly at the convention center in the morning, that was for sure.

_Apparently ‘long live the Forrester empire’ is an acceptable toast now,_ he texted his spouses, hoping they were both asleep already. He was out like a light a moment later.


End file.
